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Ken Forrester

So much about Ken Forrester is larger than life.

So I’m surprised to discover his Stellenbosch wine estate hasn’t gone the way of the gilded and grand contemporary winery, but is instead a place full of heart. At first I even drive right past the small, unassuming gate at the entrance.

After doubling back, and heading up the tree-lined driveway I find myself with Forrester in the courtyard of the tasting room. He laughs when I tell him about my mistake: “I built that gate and I kept it small to keep out the big busses. I want people to come and immerse themselves in the experience here.”

The tinkling of a water feature keeps time with the dappled sunlight playing over bright and colourful textiles and furnishings. It’s a happy, comfortable space, with views of both his famed chenin vineyards and the Helderberg Mountain off in the distance. Ken Forrester slots into this landscape like the embodiment of chenin blanc he is. Mr Chenin, as he’s widely known, is as dynamic and prolific as the grape he champions.

Somewhere along the way, this tall, silver-haired and blue-eyed restaurateur turned wine industry titan became an ambassador for South Africa’s most widely planted—and now one of the most celebrated—varietals.

It all started with a second chance: both for Forrester, and an old chenin blanc vineyard that was destined for the chopping block. Born in Zambia, a son of a copper mining engineer of Scottish descent, Forrester enjoyed an unfettered, bush childhood till around age 10 when his family moved to South Africa—and he went into boarding school in Krugersdorp. He followed this with a three-year course in Hotel Management at the Johannesburg Hotel School and he got his first big career break 1977, with a job at the Southern Sun.

His trajectory was briefly interrupted with a stint in the army at the Angolan border. But when he came back he went straight into the restaurant trade, and within two years had bought Gatriles in the centre of Johannesburg, and more restaurants soon followed.

A trip to the Cape in the early ‘90s offered him the glimpse of that second chance with the opportunity to buy Scholtzenhof Farm in Stellenbosch. Forrester is regaling me with this history as we take the short walk from the tasting area and cellar to the manor house. Opening the exterior gate, his dogs (there are at least six) curl around him looking for attention.

The Cape Dutch building with its white shoulders in a permanent shrug greets us as soon as we’re through. The garden is green and graceful around it, and Forrester’s eyes shine with pride as he shows me around.

“It was absolutely derelict when we bought it on public auction in 1993.”

Inside in the study, he shows me the original deed to the property, which dates back to 1694. Following that second chance he moved down to the Cape with his wife Teresa (they’ve been married for 30 years) and their two daughters to start life as a wine farmer. The house was soon authentically restored, and then it was time to tackle the vineyards.

“Back then the grapes were all sold to co-ops to be blended. If a good wine was made, it was your grapes; any bad wines were the neighbours fault,” he says smiling. But go-getter that he is, he wanted to make his own wine. It started with some sauvignon blanc which Mike Dobrovich of Mulderbosch assisted with. Then his attention turned to an old chenin vineyard, which he was being advised to pull out and to rather plant with pinotage or chardonnay. Something stopped him. “I wanted to give it a chance.”

This is where the long-time collaboration and friendship began with winemaker, Martin Meinert. “Everything I know about wine I know from him, don’t tell him he’s already got a big head.”

The pair decided to embark on a rather ambitious project together using this old bush vine block. “We wanted to make the best white wine in the world.” “We did everything we thought would enhance it, but when we tasted the wine it was quite awful. We were pushing too hard, trying to force something.” So in 1998 they started again. And tried again in 1999. But it was the 2000 vintage that they finally found what they were looking for. In a bottle simply labelled ‘the chenin project’ it caught the attention of a famed wine critic at a London trade show, whose enthusiastic approval saw it garnering international attention. This wine became the Cape icon that’s known as the FMC, an acronym for ‘Forrester Meinart Chenin’ or as Forrester likes to tell it: F****** Magnificent Chenin.

It was all uphill for South African chenin from there. He had already co-founded the Chenin Blanc Association in 1998, and through this channel as well as his relentless drive to travel and push sales; chenin blanc and Ken Forrester Vineyards were firmly on the global map.

“Today we’re a million bottle business,” he says. Ken Forrester makes five different levels of chenin; from the entry level Petit range to the luxury chenins as well as a sparkling and Noble Late Harvest. Then there is the matter of the Dirty Little Secret. We’ve wound our way back to the cellar now. Forrester dips a thief into a barrel. “You know what this is? This is Dirty Little Secret number two.” The original vintage of this natural wine was 2015, and like its predecessor is made with grapes sourced from a Piekenierskloof vineyard planted in 1965.

“You’ve got to have fun. I know how much fun I can have. We’re not here on this planet for a long time. I think we all need to live long enough to realise how precious life is.”

This last sentiment he attributes to his third chance in life. He recently ended up in ICU after a horrific mountain bike crash. Today though there’s no sign of injury or of slowing down as he merrily fills up our glasses with the thief as we walk from barrel to barrel. “Next week I’m getting back on my bike.”

Of course he is.

Malu Lambert, courtesy of ‘Wines of South Africa’

2023 - Read about the wonderful new gallery being built in Sudbury for Gainsborough's masterpieces; follow the trail of a tireless local environmental campaigner; get ready for the second EA cultural festival, the Bures music festival and Opera at Layer Marney; discover the beautiful garden of Holm House with its wildflower meadow and lake; travel through the Colne valley along the Gainsborough line; find out where you can get local financial advice; enjoy an illustrated walk in the Stour Valley; and read our Chairman's update on proposed housing developments, solar farms, and the National Grid's Bramford to Twinstead electricity grid reinforcement project. 

2022 - Read about the wonderful new gallery being built in Sudbury for Gainsborough's masterpieces; follow the trail of a tireless local environmental campaigner; get ready for the second EA cultural festival, the Bures music festival and Opera at Layer Marney; discover the beautiful garden of Holm House with its wildflower meadow and lake; travel through the Colne valley along the Gainsborough line; find out where you can get local financial advice; enjoy an illustrated walk in the Stour Valley; and read our Chairman's update on proposed housing developments, solar farms, and the National Grid's Bramford to Twinstead electricity grid reinforcement project. 

2022 Magazine
Year: 2022
Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2022
Rebel with a cause
Year: 2022
A National Centre for Thomas Gainsborough’s Masterpieces
Year: 2022
EA Festival at Hedingham Castle
Category: Culture
Year: 2022
The Gainsborough Line
Category: Adventure. Travel, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2022
Music, Mischief and Mayhem – Opera at Layer Marney
Year: 2022
Bures Music Festival
Year: 2022
Holm House Gardens in Suffolk
Year: 2022

2020 - Welcome to our 2020 lockdown edition - only published ONLINE. Read about the wonderful Alfred Munnings Exhibition "Behind the Lines"; find out how the beavers have been getting on at the Spains Hall Estate in Finchingfield, introduced back into Essex after an absence of 400 years; explore the link between Ferriers in Bures and the Voyage of the Mayflower, the Salem Witch trials and Wampum belts; read a fascinating interview with Carl Shillingford, talented Michelin chef and keen local forager; and enjoy a celebratory update from Ken Forrester on South African wines and his support for a wonderful local school.  

2020 Magazine
Year: 2020
Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2020
Behind the Lines: Alfred Munnings, War Artist
Category: Art, Culture
Year: 2020
The Foragers Retreat – Michelin chef in Pebmarsh.
Category: Food, Nature
Year: 2020
Dam Good Job – Beavers back in Essex after 400 years.
Category: Explore Colne Stour, Nature
Year: 2020
Ferriers – a Bures house and its connection to the Mayflower.
Category: Adventure. Travel, Architectural Interest, Culture, History
Year: 2020
Three special milestones for Ken Forrester Wines  
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2020

2019 - Read about Tudor living on a grand scale at Alston Court, how Samuel Courtauld & Co. shaped our towns and villages, hear inspiring stories of local vineyards Tuffon Hall and West Street, get an update on the Dedham Vale AONB extension, and take a tour round Polstead Mill, one of East Anglia's beautiful secret gardens. 

Chairman’s Letter
Year: 2019
Dedham Vale AONB extension
Year: 2019
The Tuffon Hall Transformation
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2019
A Hong Kong racehorse in an Essex field
Category: Nature
Year: 2019
Andy Gentle – A chainsaw love affair
Category: Business
Year: 2019
A vivid insight into Tudor living on the grand scale.
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2019
Underground Moats & Zinc Cathedrals
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2019
Secret Gardens of East Anglia – Polstead Mill
Category: Gardens
Year: 2019
Repairing the damage of a supermarket delivery van
Year: 2019
How Samuel Courtauld and Co. shaped our towns and villages
Category: Architectural Interest, Culture, History
Year: 2019
Ken Forrester
Year: 2019
CSCA Photography Competition
Year: 2019
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens
Year: 2019
Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2019

2018 - Read about Hedingham Castle, a new National Centre for Gainsborough in Sudbury, award-winning new Gins from Adnams, aspects of our Industrial Heritage, the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, the Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project, and take a look at the proposed new Constitution for CSCA.. 

Chairmans Letter April 2018
Category: Annual, News, Planning Issues
Year: 2018
History of the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
Category: Architectural Interest, Art, Culture, History
Year: 2018
Another Suffolk Success Story – Time for a G & T?
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2018
Some more aspects of our Industrial Heritage
Category: Agricultural, Brewing, distilling and wine, History
Year: 2018
An Earl’s Tower
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2018
A Castle Reborn
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2018
Dedham Vale AONB and Stour Valley Project
Category: Explore Colne Stour, Nature, Planning Issues
Year: 2018
A National Centre for Gainsborough set within the town where he was born and the landscape that inspired him
Category: Architectural Interest, Art, History
Year: 2018
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens, History
Year: 2018
Treasurer’s Report
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2018
New Constitution
Year: 2018
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2018

2017 - Read about our local industrial heritage, Paycocke's House history, why heritage matters, the art of Alfred Munnings, a haunted house in Lamarsh, celebrating Gainsborough, the beauty of recreating Cedric Morris's Iris collection and a small wine snippet from Ken Forrester. 

Chairmans Letter April 2017
Category: Annual, News, Planning Issues
Year: 2017
Heritage Matters
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2017
Some aspects of our Industrial Heritage
Category: History
Year: 2017
Paycocke’s House: a witness to history
Category: Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
The House of his Dreams: Reimagining The Munnings Art Museum
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
‘The Haunted House’ of Lamarsh – Some Early Reflections
Category: History
Year: 2017
Gainsborough’s House: Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2017
Another, highly unusual, Suffolk Success Story
Category: Gardens, Nature
Year: 2017
Garden Visits 2017
Category: Gardens, Nature
Year: 2017
Dirty Little Secret
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2017
Website
Category: News
Year: 2017
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2017
Treasurer’s Report
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2017

2016 - Interesting articles on medieval graffiti, farming in the Stour Valley, exploring our AONB, early settlers from the Stour Valley to America, the archaeology of a local farm, a wonderful catalogue of British birds, celebrating a Suffolk joinery business, the weather from a South African winery. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2016
Medieval Graffiti: the hidden histories…
Category: History
Year: 2016
Stour Valley Farming
Category: Business
Year: 2016
The Godly Kingdom of the Stour Valley
Category: History
Year: 2016
Keeping It Special in the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Stour Valley Project
Category: Nature
Year: 2016
Lodge Farm, Rectory Road, Wyverstone Street, Suffolk
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2016
A Miscellany of Information about British Birds
Category: Nature
Year: 2016
Another Suffolk Success Story
Category: Business
Year: 2016
Garden Visits
Category: Gardens
Year: 2016
Harvest, Fires and Fynbos
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2016
LOOKING FORWARDS, BEFORE I GET LEFT BEHIND….
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2016
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2016
Annual General Meeting and Summer Party
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2016
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2016

2015 - The life and times of a flint knapper. A continuation about the history of the ancient farm at Henny and a visit to the inside of Alston Court, Nayland as well as an insight into The Antiques Roadshow.  

Chairman’s Letter – February 2015
Category: Annual
Year: 2015
Caught Knapping
Category: History
Year: 2015
ALSTON COURT
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2015
ORGANIC MUTTERINGS
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2015
THE STORY OF SPARROW’S FARM, GREAT HENNY – PART 2
Category: History
Year: 2015
ON AND OFF THE ANTIQUES ROADSHOW
Category: Business
Year: 2015
UNLOCKING THE ARTIST WITHIN: FINE ART LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2015
BADGERS – LOVE’EM, OR HATE’EM?
Category: Nature
Year: 2015
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Gardens
Year: 2015
FORRESTER VINEYARDS, SOUTH AFRICA
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2015
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2015
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2015

2014 - A hair-raising flight from UK to South Africa and an insight into the Wineries of Stellenbosch. An exceptional old mill just outside Bures and a most unusual chapel on the hill behind, as well as a time warp farm at Henny. 

Chairman’s Letter – February 2014
Category: Annual
Year: 2014
ST. STEPHEN’S CHAPEL, BURES
Category: History
Year: 2014
THE STELLENBOSCH WINE ROUTE – THE PEOPLE AND THE DOGS!
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2014
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A FLIGHT TO STELLENBOSCH AND BACK
Category: Adventure. Travel
Year: 2014
A SUFFOLK SUCCESS STORY – JIM LAWRENCE LTD
Category: Business
Year: 2014
HOLD FARM, BURES ST MARY; A RARE TUDOR WATERMILL
Category: Architectural Interest
Year: 2014
THE STORY OF SPARROW’S FARM, GREAT HENNY
Category: History
Year: 2014
YOUR COUNTRYSIDE – FIGHT FOR IT NOW! your Britain fight for it now
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2014
TUNBRIDGEWARE
Category: History
Year: 2014
EXTENDING THE DEDHAM VALE AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY (AONB) – UPDATE
Category: News, Planning Issues
Year: 2014
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2014
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2014
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2014

2013 - Watermills on the Stour. How Constable and Gainsborough would have seen many of the buildings in our area. Let’s protect the Stour Valley by extending the AONB from where we take over from The Dedham Vale at Wormingford towards Sudbury. 

Chairman’s Letter – February 2013
Category: Annual
Year: 2013
THE WATERMILLS OF THE RIVER STOUR
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2013
MANAGING A MASTERPIECE: THE STOUR VALLEY LANDSCAPE PARTNERSHIP
Category: Art, History
Year: 2013
EXTENDING THE DEDHAM VALE AREA OF OUTSTANDING NATURAL BEAUTY (AONB)
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2013
BUILDINGS IN THE EAST ANGLIAN LANDSCAPE – AS SEEN BY JOHN CONSTABLE
Category: Art, History
Year: 2013
THE ROUND CHURCH AT MAPLESTEAD
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2013
THE FINE WINES OF ENGLAND
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2013
PROGRESS AGAINST PYLONS: A ROUNDUP OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PYLONS SAGA
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2013
TEA AND THE TEA CADDY A BRIEF STUDY OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF TEA AND ITS CONTAINERS
Category: History
Year: 2013
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2013
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2013
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2013

2012 - A walk through many of the churches along the River Stour and how the Romans once lived right here in our midst, and how your pint is brewed. Also the ongoing fight to rid the Stour of the blight of Pylons. 

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER – FEBRUARY 2012
Category: Annual
Year: 2012
TREES R US – AN AMATEUR ARBORETUM
Category: Nature
Year: 2012
GLIMPSES INTO SOME STOUR VALLEY CHURCHES
Category: Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2012
THE ART OF BREWING
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2012
PLANNING REFORM
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2012
‘ELF ‘N SAFETY . . . AND ALL THAT
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2012
BRINGING OUR PAST TO LIFE: GESTINGTHORPE ROMAN VILLA
Category: History
Year: 2012
MINIATURE OR APPRENTICE PIECE?
Category: History
Year: 2012
GAINSBOROUGH’S VIEW
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2012
NEW STOUR VALLEY ENVIRONMENT FUND
Category: News
Year: 2012
TREASURER’S REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2012
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2012
THE COLNE STOUR COUNTRYSIDE ASSOCIATION. MINUTES OF THE 46TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT FERRIERS BARN, BURES ON THURSDAY 12TH MAY 2011
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2012

2011 - The brewers of East Anglia. The gardens of Marks Hall as well as the paintings of Alfred Munnings on display in Sudbury. How a small church became the Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds and all you need to know about antique birdcages. 

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER – APRIL 2011
Category: Annual
Year: 2011
Pylons
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2011
THE PAINTED CHURCH BECOMES BURY’S CATHEDRAL
Category: History
Year: 2011
MARKS HALL AND THE PHILLIPS PRICE TRUST
Category: History
Year: 2011
BREWING IN EAST ANGLIA
Category: Brewing, distilling and wine
Year: 2011
BURES MILL OVER NINE CENTURIES
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2011
LANDSCAPES BY MUNNINGS EXHIBITION AT GAINSBOROUGH’S HOUSE
Category: Art
Year: 2011
BIRD-CAGES – A FASCINATION
Category: History
Year: 2011
DAWS HALL EVENTS 2011
Category: Annual
Year: 2011
EDITOR’S NOTES
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2011
GARDEN VISITS
Category: Annual, Gardens
Year: 2011
TREASURERS REPORT
Category: Treasurer’s Report
Year: 2011
THE COLNE STOUR COUNTRYSIDE ASSOCIATION. MINUTES OF THE 45TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT FERRIERS BARN, BURES ON THURSDAY 6TH MAY 2010
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2011
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2010
Category: A.G.M.
Year: 2011

2010 - An artist who enjoyed his port and a canoe adventure along the Stour. Sudbury’s history and Coggeshall Abbey and a fight to get rid of Pylons from the Stour Valley. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2010
A Pint of Port to Paint a Picture
Category: Art, History
Year: 2010
A Walk Round Coggeshall Abbey
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2010
By Canoe to Cattawade
Category: Adventure. Travel, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2010
Nocturnal Visitors
Category: Nature
Year: 2010
Sudbury New Town – c.1330
Category: History
Year: 2010
A Stay in a Nomad’s Tent
Category: Business
Year: 2010
Freeing our countryside of the blight of pylons
Category: Planning Issues
Year: 2010
Hobbies on the Stour
Category: Nature
Year: 2010
Editor’s Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2010
Website
Category: News
Year: 2010
Annual General Meeting 2009
Category: Annual
Year: 2010

2009 - Norwich School art and the Maplesteads. Ancient wallpapers, and is Long Melford the epitome of a Suffolk village? and don’t throw away a rug before checking what it is. 

Chairmans Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2009
By Hook or by Crook
Category: Art, History
Year: 2009
Unwanted Wildlife – Some Handy Hints
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
East Ruston Old Vicarage
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
Squash a Squirrel – Save a Tree
Category: Nature
Year: 2009
Historic Wallpapers and Cole & Son
Category: Business
Year: 2009
Long Melford – ‘Suffolk in a day’
Category: Architectural Interest, Explore Colne Stour, History
Year: 2009
Don’t throw away a fortune!
Category: Business
Year: 2009
Garden Visits. Away Days
Category: Gardens
Year: 2009
Website
Category: Annual
Year: 2009
Editors Notes
Category: Editors notes
Year: 2009
Annual General Meeting 2008
Category: Annual
Year: 2009

2008 - The bell founders of Sudbury and all about a rogue from our area, Sir John Hawkwood, and a Sudbury secret – Gainsborough’s House. 

Member’s Letter
Category: Annual
Year: 2008
Cycling in Suffolk – An Environmental Holiday
Category: Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2008
The Sudbury Bell Founders
Category: History
Year: 2008
The CSCA Website
Category: News
Year: 2008
From Sible Hedingham to Florence. The Remarkable Life of Sir John Hawkwood
Category: History
Year: 2008
‘One of Suffolk’s Best Kept Secrets’- Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury
Category: Art, Explore Colne Stour
Year: 2008
Discovering Historic Wallpaper in East Anglian Houses
Category: History
Year: 2008
The not so humble Mole (Talpa Europaea) and how to catch him
Category: Nature
Year: 2008
Annual Report 2007.
Category: Annual
Year: 2008

2007 - Why a bell had to be chipped to get into the belfry at Lamarsh. Watermills on the Colne and Dragonflies. 

Water Mills on the Upper Colne
Category: Architectural Interest, History
Year: 2007
Dragonflies on the Stour
Category: Nature
Year: 2007
Lamarsh Bell Restoration
Category: Architectural Interest
Year: 2007
The CSCA Website
Category: News
Year: 2007
What is wrong with our Horse Chestnuts?
Category: Nature
Year: 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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